A typical personal computer ("PC") has a case containing various circuit boards; a power supply; a cooling fan; connectors for coupling to peripheral devices such a monitors, keyboards, printers, etc.; and, one or more mounting brackets or housings into which a variety of storage devices can be inserted. The storage devices (commonly called "drives") typically comprise floppy disk drives, hard disk drives, tape drives, CD-ROM drives and the like. The PC user places the case in one of two different orientations known as the "desktop" and "tower" orientations. In the "desktop" orientation the larger planar surfaces of the case lie horizontally; in the "tower" orientation they stand vertically. The PC user decides which orientation to use based on factors such as available space, location of and access to peripheral devices, and personal preference.
In prior art PC cases the drive housings can be mounted in the case in only one way, thus fixing the orientation of the drives relative to the case, irrespective of whether the user places the case in the desktop or tower orientation. Originally, only desktop cases were available. In a desktop case the drive housings are fixed to the case so that drives mounted in the housings extend parallel to the cases's larger planar surfaces, which in turn lie parallel to the supporting surface on which the user rests the case in the desktop orientation. As indicated above, the user may decide to stand a desktop case on one of its narrower ends in the "tower" orientation, in which event the drives extend vertically relative to the surface on which the case rests. In many situations this will not cause problems. However, some drives operate satisfactorily only when they are substantially horizontal. To address this problem PC manufacturers developed a special "tower" case in which the drive housings are fixed to the case at 90.degree. relative to the positioning of the drive housings in a desktop case. When placed in the vertical "tower" orientation, the tower case maintains the drives horizontal relative to the support surface on which the case rests.
Although the desktop and tower case styles solve the drive orientation problem, they present problems for PC manufacturers who must incur the added cost of stocking two different case styles and supplying them to suit different customers' needs. The present invention overcomes this problem by providing a single case which can be used in either the desktop or tower orientation while maintaining the drives horizontally to the support surface on which the case rests in either orientation.